Rosneft started the drilling of the northernmost well at the Russian shelf

On April 3 Rosneft started drilling of the Tsentralno-Olginskaya-1 well at the Khatangsky license area. The well is the northernmost at the Russian Arctic shelf. President of Russia Vladimir Putin launched exploration drilling via video link-up with Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin who was on the shore of the Khatanga bay.

In his speech, Vladimir Putin emphasized the importance of Rosneft's project: "We are seeing the start of work to develop a whole oil and gas province, which preliminary data suggest contains a vast quantity of energy resources. Horizontal drilling is a complex and high-tech operation. This is just the first well. There is much more work ahead. I would like to wish you good luck and I hope for this undertaking's success," - the President of Russia said.

Rosneft Head reported to Vladimir Putin that the preparation for drilling had been completed in record-breaking time. "With your support, we gained the right to work on the Khatanga block just over a year ago. We carried out unprecedented geological exploration work within a very short period. We completed 21 linear kilometres of seismic studies that revealed the existence of 114 promising oil and gas-bearing structures. Preliminary estimates suggest that the Laptev Sea's total potential geological resources could come to 9.5 billion tonnes of oil equivalent."

In report to the President Igor Sechin set out the priorities in the Company's working plans at the Russian offshore: "We started working in the Kara Sea in 2014, acting on your instructions, and discovered a very important field - the Kara oil and gas-bearing province. This year, after starting on the Khatanga block, we will be drilling in the Black Sea. Next year, we will drill in the Barents Sea, and in 2019, we will return to the Kara oil and gas field, and will continue our work in the eastern Arctic."

Vladimir Putin highlighted the importance of the development of Arctic by state-owned companies: "We have tremendous untapped offshore and coastal reserves in the Arctic. Given the tremendous value and importance of these reserves of hydrocarbons and other minerals, we have allowed only companies in which the state holds a majority stake to take part in this work. Licenses have been accorded only to Rosneft and Gazprom. Rosneft should undoubtedly make the best possible use of these privileges."